Bush Seeks More NATO Support on Iraq

BRUSSELS, Belgium — President Bush conferred with NATO leaders on Tuesday about the alliance’s future role in postwar Iraq. Iraqis defied terrorists to hold free elections "and we’re there to help them," Bush declared as he won a NATO pledge for more training aid.

NATO’s secretary general said all members of the alliance would help train Iraq’s military – a decision designed to symbolize the end to the bitter divisions wrought by the Iraq war.

"All 26 allies are working together to respond to the Iraqi government’s request for support by training Iraqi security forces, providing equipment and helping to fund NATO’s efforts," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a NATO summit.

NATO has been struggling for months to get a commitment from all allies to join the mission.

However, in a sign of lingering differences, France, Germany and other opponents to the Iraq war will not send instructors to Iraq, limiting their contribution to training outside the country or funding for the operation.

The mission inside Iraq is modest. It comprises just over 100 instructors training senior Iraqi officers in Baghdad’s heavily protected "Green Zone." More than half the NATO instructors are American.

Alliance planners hope to expand that operation to 160 instructors, which they say is adequate for the current phase of the mission. They hope for a further expansion in September to allow NATO to help run a military academy outside the Iraqi capital – if it can find the troops and money needed.

NATO officials said France was the last to come on board and will contribute just one officer to help coordination at NATO’s military headquarters in southern Belgium. But Paris is also considering a financial contribution to the mission and has offered to train 1,500 Iraqi military police in Qatar, outside the NATO program.

Bush, who is holding back-to-back summits with NATO and the European Union, is seeking to regroup allies alienated by the war. "The Iraqis have defied the terrorists and showed the world they want to live in a free society, and we’re there to help them achieve that," Bush said.

Bush, who also is pressing his case for increasing pressure on Iran to end its nuclear ambitions, spoke after a breakfast meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the U.S. embassy here. The two leaders praised the January elections in Iraq, saying they demonstrated that the war-torn country is on the right path forward.

"Whatever the differences in the international community have been over the past couple of years, I think we have a really solid basis now for going forward in a unified way," Blair said, adding that it’s possible to see a future in which Iraq will become a stable and prosperous democratic state.

"After all the tragedies of the past and the dictatorship and the loss of life under Saddam, there’s now real prospect for the Iraqi people.

The alliance also is expected to emphasize its engagement in Afghanistan and may discuss an eventual NATO role in the Middle East if Israel and the Palestinians reach a peace accord.

Blair said Bush’s speech in Brussels on Monday, outlining specific steps for resolving conflict in the Middle East, helped provide a new impetus for reaching a settlement.

"There’s a renewed sense of vigor and optimism in that process," Blair said.

Bush also met with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and Viktor Yushchenko, the new, Westward-leaning president of Ukraine. Yushchenko is the only non-alliance leader invited to the NATO summit. His presence here is a clear sign of support for the leader, who swept to power after pro-democracy demonstrations forced a repeat election in December.

Yushchenko, however, has said that withdrawing Ukraine’s 1,600 troops from Iraq is topping the agenda for his country’s cash-starved military. Ukraine’s defense minister said earlier that the contingent could be withdrawn by October.

Bush opened his fence-mending trip to Europe on Monday with a speech intended for the European people, and by hosting an elegant dinner for French President Jacques Chirac, his sharpest Iraq war critic.

"I’m looking for a good cowboy," Bush joked when a reporter asked whether relations had improved to the point where Chirac might receive an invitation to the president’s Texas ranch.

Chirac said U.S.-French relations have been excellent for 200 years and the war had not changed that. They dined on lobster risotto and filet of beef.

Despite the cordial meeting, Bush told Chirac the United States adamantly opposed Europe’s plans to lift its 15-year arms embargo against China, an issue expected to come up at Tuesday’s meetings.

The arms ban had been imposed shortly after the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square government crackdown on pro-democracy activists. And Bush aides said that, despite improved trade and other relations between the West and China since then, there has been little real progress in human rights in China.

In Beijing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said abolishing the "erroneous and outdated measure" would help move forward China-EU relations. "We hope the U.S. side will follow the trend set by China-Europe relations instead of setting any obstacles to this process," he said.

Bush, meanwhile, who meets on Thursday in Slovakia with Russian President Vladimir Putin, had some critical words for the Russian leader on Monday, suggesting he was backsliding on democracy.

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